Author: claimsbot

1. A treatment procedure for treating bodily tissue having one or more treatment sites, comprising the steps of:
(i) percutaneously inserting a tissue removal apparatus into at least one of said one or more treatment sites;
(ii) activating said tissue removal apparatus to remove tissue;
(iii) percutaneously inserting an energy delivery apparatus into at least one of said one or more treatment sites; and
(iv) delivering energy via said energy delivery apparatus;
wherein said energy delivery apparatus comprises at least two separate probes independently positionable relative to one another and wherein the step of inserting the probes comprises inserting said at least two probes into spaced apart treatment sites and wherein said energy is delivered in a bipolar fashion between said at least two probes.
2. The treatment procedure of claim 1, wherein said bodily tissue comprises an intervertebral disc.
3. The treatment procedure of claim 1, wherein said energy delivery apparatus further comprises a means of cooling said probes.
4. The treatment procedure of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:
(v) measuring a parameter selected from the group consisting of a temperature and an electrical impedance; and
(vi) controlling the delivery of energy in response to a measured parameter.
5. The treatment procedure of claim 1, wherein at least one of said energy delivery apparatus and said tissue removal apparatus comprises a marker selected from the group consisting of a radiopaque marker, a visual marker and a tactile marker.
6. The treatment procedure of claim 1, further comprising a step of measuring a tissue parameter in order to determine the efficacy of said treatment procedure.
7. The treatment procedure of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:
(v) measuring the pressure exerted by said bodily tissue on said tissue removal apparatus; and
(vi) controlling the removal of tissue in response to a measured pressure.
8. The treatment procedure of claim 3, wherein said means of cooling said probes comprises means for internally cooling said probes.
9. A treatment procedure for treating bodily tissue having one or more treatment sites, comprising the steps of:
(i) percutaneously inserting a tissue removal apparatus into at least one of said one or more treatment sites;
(ii) activating said tissue removal apparatus to remove tissue;
(iii) percutaneously inserting an energy delivery apparatus having at least two separate probes independently positionable relative to one another into at least one of said one or more treatment sites by inserting said at least two probes into spaced apart treatment sites; and
(iv) delivering energy via said energy delivery apparatus in a bipolar fashion between said at least two probes;
wherein said tissue removal apparatus comprises a mechanical conveyance apparatus and wherein said mechanical conveyance apparatus is located within a sheath and is structured to mechanically convey material to a location external to a patient’s body without suctioning the material to the location.
10. The treatment procedure of claim 9, wherein said bodily tissue comprises an intervertebral disc.
11. The treatment procedure of claim 9, further comprising the steps of:
(v) measuring a parameter selected from the group consisting of a temperature and an electrical impedance; and
(vi) controlling the delivery of energy in response to a measured parameter.
12. The treatment procedure of claim 9, wherein at least one of said energy delivery apparatus and said tissue removal apparatus comprises a marker selected from the group consisting of a radiopaque marker, a visual marker and a tactile marker.
13. The treatment procedure of claim 9, further comprising a step of measuring a tissue parameter in order to determine the efficacy of said treatment procedure.
14. The treatment procedure of claim 9, further comprising the steps of:
(v) measuring the pressure exerted by said bodily tissue on said tissue removal apparatus; and
(vi) controlling the removal of tissue in response to a measured pressure.
15. A treatment procedure for treating an intervertebral disc having one or more treatment sites, comprising the steps of:
(i) percutaneously inserting a first apparatus structured to remove material into at least one of said one or more treatment sites of said intervertebral disc;
(ii) activating said first apparatus to remove tissue from said intervertebral disc;
(iii) percutaneously inserting a second apparatus having at least two separate probes independently positionable relative to one another structured to deliver energy into at least one of said one or more treatment sites of said intervertebral disc inserting said at least two probes into spaced apart treatment sites; and
(iv) delivering energy via said second apparatus in a bipolar fashion between said at least two probes to said intervertebral disc;
wherein the tissue is removed via a mechanical conveyance without suctioning.
16. The treatment procedure of claim 15, further comprising the steps of:
(v) measuring a parameter selected from the group consisting of a temperature and an electrical impedance; and
(vi) controlling the delivery of energy in response to a measured parameter.
17. The treatment procedure of claim 15, wherein at least one of said first apparatus and said second apparatus comprises a marker selected from the group consisting of a radiopaque marker, a visual marker and a tactile marker.
18. The treatment procedure of claim 15, further comprising a step of measuring a tissue parameter in order to determine the efficacy of said treatment procedure.
19. The treatment procedure of claim 15, further comprising the steps of:
(v) measuring the pressure exerted by said bodily tissue on said first apparatus; and
(vi) controlling the removal of tissue in response to a measured pressure.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A method for displaying virtual slide images on a display device of a virtual slide viewing device, comprising:
automatically displaying images of a plurality of slides in a first region of the display device at a first magnification, wherein said plurality of slides are associated;
displaying an image of at least a part of at least one of the plurality of slides in a second region of the display device at a second magnification, wherein said second magnification is greater than said first magnification;
receiving user input to the virtual slide viewing device; and
changing at least the image displayed in the second region responsive to said user input.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of slides include material from one specimen or a plurality of specimens.
3. The method of claim 1, and further comprising:
displaying an image of at least a part of at least one of the plurality of slides in a third region of the display device at a third magnification, wherein said third magnification is greater than said first magnification and less then said second magnification.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein said user input is selected from: a pan command; a zoom command; and a select command.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein said user input is generated by a cursor being positioned in, or user interaction with, the first region or the second region or the third region.
6. The method of claim 1, and further comprising:
displaying a visual indication in the first region of those parts of the slides displayed in the first region which are also currently being displayed in the second region.
7. The method of claim 1, and further comprising:
loading a plurality of different portions of image data into local memory of the virtual slide viewing device; and
flagging at least one of the portions of image data as persistent so that the portion of image data is not overwritten while the current plurality of slides are being displayed.
8. The method of claim 7, and further comprising:
flagging at least one of the portions of image data as non-persistent so that the portion of image data can be overwritten while the current plurality of slides are being displayed.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein image data for each virtual slide is stored at a plurality of different levels of magnification.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the image data for each different level of magnification is divided into a plurality of different portions of image data.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein displaying an image of at least a part of at least one of the plurality of slides in a second region of the display device comprises reading only those portions of image data corresponding to parts of the slide visible in the second region.
12. The method of claim 10, and further comprising storing a pointer to a location in local memory at which the portion of image data is stored, for each of a plurality of portions of image data.
13. The method of claim 1, and further comprising:
persistently storing in local memory all the image data required to display all of the plurality of slides in the second region at a particular level of magnification while the viewer is being used to display the plurality of slides.
14. The method of claim 1, and further comprising:
loading into local memory of the image viewing device image data for the plurality of slides at a level of magnification different to the level of magnification currently being used in the second region while said image of at least a part of at least a one of the plurality of slides is being displayed in the second region.
15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
downloading image data for the plurality of slides from a remote storage device over a network.
16. A virtual slide image viewing device, comprising:
a display device; and
a data processing device in communication with the display device, wherein the data processing device is configured to carry out the method of claim 1.
17. A computer readable medium storing in a non-transitory way computer program code which when loaded into a data processing device configures the data processing device to carry out the method of claim 1.

1. An electrode group for a flat secondary battery formed by winding a positive electrode and a negative electrode with a porous insulator interposed therebetween, and flattening the wound electrode group by pressing, wherein
bent portions are provided at ends of the electrode group in a direction of a long axis thereof, respectively, and
parts of the bent portions at the innermost of the electrode group are positioned opposite each other relative to a center line which passes a midpoint of the electrode group in a direction of a thickness thereof, and extends in the direction of the long axis.
2. The electrode group for the flat secondary battery of claim 1, wherein
the parts of the bent portions at the innermost of the electrode group are symmetric about a point on the center line.
3. A method for fabricating an electrode group for a flat secondary battery, the method comprising:
winding a positive electrode and a negative electrode with a porous insulator interposed therebetween to form an intermediate electrode group having a parallelogram-shaped lateral cross-section; and
pressing the intermediate electrode group to form a flat electrode group, wherein
bent portions are formed at ends of the electrode group in a direction of a long axis thereof, respectively, by pressing the intermediate electrode group, and
parts of the bent portions at the innermost of the electrode group are positioned opposite each other relative to a center line which passes a midpoint of the electrode group in a direction of a thickness thereof, and extends in the direction of the long axis.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein
the intermediate electrode group is pressed with a spacer having curved portions at longitudinal ends thereof inserted in a hollow part of the intermediate electrode group.
5. A flat secondary battery comprising:
the electrode group for the flat secondary battery of claim 1, and an electrolytic solution placed in a battery case.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A point-of-sale system comprising:
a monitor; and
a plurality of interchangeable bases configured for POS applications, the monitor being attached to at least one of the plurality of interchangeable bases using a Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) mount, each of the plurality of interchangeable bases being configured to house a processing device with a different performance.
2. The point-of-sale system defined by claim 1, further comprising a monitor support disposed between the monitor and at least one of the plurality of interchangeable bases, the monitor being attached to the monitor support using the VESA mount, the monitor support being attached to the at least one of the plurality of interchangeable bases.
3. The point-of-sale system defined by claim 2, further comprising a housing adapted to at least partially enclose the monitor support.
4. The point-of-sale system defined by claim 1, further comprising a housing adapted to at least partially enclose the VESA mount.
5. A point-of-sale monitor comprising:
a display; and
a monitor support, the monitor support being attached to the display using a Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) mount, the monitor support being adapted to be attached to a plurality of interchangeable bases configured for POS applications, the display being configured to be selectively attached to each of the plurality of interchangeable bases and detached from each of the plurality of interchangeable bases, each of the plurality of interchangeable bases being configured to house a processing device with a different performance.
6. The point-of-sale monitor defined by claim 5, further comprising a housing adapted to at least partially enclose the VESA mount.
7. A method of displaying point-of-sale information comprising:
providing a monitor;
adapting a plurality of interchangeable bases configured for POS applications to attach to the monitor using a Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) mount, each of the plurality of interchangeable bases being configured to house a processing device with a different performance.
8. The method of displaying point-of-sale information defined by claim 7, further comprising:
disposing a monitor support between the monitor and at least one of the plurality of interchangeable bases;
attaching the monitor to the monitor support using the VESA mount; and
attaching the monitor support to the at least one of the plurality of interchangeable bases.
9. The method of displaying point-of-sale information defined by claim 7, further comprising adapting a housing to at least partially enclose the VESA mount.
10. The method of displaying point-of-sale information defined by claim 7, further comprising adapting a housing to at least partially enclose the monitor support.